Sunday, 11 November 2012

Sex, Savile & Crisis at the BBC

Saturn
in Scorpio can be an extreme placement. One of its darkest themes is the abuse
of power, particularly by those in positions of authority in society. This,
unfortunately, includes sexual abuse.

The
arrival of Saturn into Scorpio also signals social shifts in attitudes to sex.
Collectively, we find ourselves dancing around the line between sexual freedoms
and sexual controls. Some historical and current examples of this are explored
in Saturn in Scorpio: Your Guide Through the Dark.

Another
key facet of Saturn’s transit through Scorpio is that we are shown, all too
starkly and dramatically, the results of past sexual behaviours, freedoms,
controls and abuses. This phenomenon of exposure is linked closely to Pluto’s
relationship to Saturn in Scorpio. For example, in the 1980’s, when Saturn in
Scorpio conjoined Pluto in Scorpio, the devastating HIV/AIDS virus came to our
attention. At the height of the scare it seemed that sex equalled death, quite
literally.

Fast
forward to 2012 and we have Saturn in Scorpio with Pluto in Capricorn. In
mutual reception1 and in Sextile1 by sign, Saturn and
Pluto are enjoying a relationship which makes it easy for Saturn to act as
filter and conduit for Pluto’s energy to manifest. As we’ve already
established, Saturn in Scorpio can be about the use and abuse of sex by those
in authority. Pluto in Capricorn is about exposing and holding responsible the
past wrong doings of individuals, corporations and institutions which have held
power. From here, it’s a very small leap
to suggest that once Saturn moved into Scorpio, the past sexual ‘crimes’ of
those in power and authority would be exposed.

Saturn
moved into Scorpio on October 5. Just TWO DAYS ahead of this ingress, a
documentary was shown on ITV in the UK, entitled Exposure - The Other Side of Jimmy Savile2 whichinvestigated allegations that the late
entertainer had sexually-abused vulnerable teenage girls.

Karin
Ward, now 54 and recovering from cancer, went on camera to reveal how she and
others were sexually abused by Savile while they were pupils at a school for
emotionally disturbed girls. Ward was only 14 years old. After over 40 years of
Savile apparently getting away with it, this was all it took. The floodgates
were opened and what followed has been extreme. At the time of writing, police
investigating the abuse have found 300 potential victims. Two other TV stars
from Savile’s era have been arrested and bailed following allegations that they
abused teenage girls along with Savile3 There have even been rumours
that Savile enjoyed necrophilia.

The
UK nation is shocked and horrified by the scale of abuse by Savile, but
actually not that surprised. Nobody is defending him. Former colleagues are
speaking openly about the rumours that surrounded him at the time and numerous former
complaints against him have come to light, some of which were investigated by
various police forces across the country. It seems that nobody joined up the
dots. Complaints were dropped, ignored or brushed under the carpet. In answer
to the question why didn’t you say
something at the time, Ward and other alleged victims have pointed out that
Savile was a big TV star and a huge supporter of children’s charities. He had
power, while they are were just kids and ‘bad’ kids, at that. It’s alleged that
he made threats to prevent them from coming forward. Who was going to believe
them anyway? It seems that Savile was able to hide in plain sight.

What
this scandal has also ignited is a major crisis at the BBC.

Firstly,
it seems that the corporation appeared to look aside while the abuse was going
on under their roof. This calls into question the culture at the organisation
during those years, that so many seemed to know what was going on. It appears
that they either accepted it as part of the culture, or, if they did feel uncomfortable with it, felt powerless to act.

Secondly,
it’s come to light that in December 2011, BBC’s Newsnight is said to have
pulled out of broadcasting the findings of their own investigation into
Savile’s sexual abuse. Had the story ran, it would have coincided with lavish BBC
tributes to the recently deceased Savile. The BBC has offered no feasible explanation
to why the story was pulled, but Newsnight’s editor has stepped aside.

Thirdly,
the BBC have been forced to apologise unreservedly after Newsnight implicated a
Tory peer as being involved in organised sexual abuse of children at
care homes in North Wales in the 1980’s. As a result, Newsnight, a bastion of
probing investigative journalism, is facing editorial controls and
restrictions. (This is a case unrelated to Savile, but which has been resurrected
after allegations that a previous inquiry into the abuse had not uncovered its
full scale and that powerful politicians may be involved in covering up a paedophile ring which included some powerful figures)4.

These
developments have shaken trust in the BBC, one of the UK’s most trusted
institutions, so much so that George Entwistle, the BBC Director-General has
resigned. He was only in the post for 54 days.

Chart for the BBC. Click to enlarge

The
BBC company was founded in 1922, but it was on 1 January 1927 that it became the British Broadcasting
Corporation, by Royal Charter, making it the significant and accountable organization
it still is today. Using this date as a birthday with a midnight birth time
(which is appropriate for the birth of an organization), gives the Sun at 9
degrees Capricorn Conjunct South Node at 7 Capricorn, straddling a 9 degree Capricorn
IC. Transiting Pluto in Capricorn is therefore making a series of conjunctions
to the BBC’s Sun, South Node and IC and opposing its MC and North Node.
Transiting Uranus, Pluto’s current partner in crime due to their ongoing series
of disruptive, game-changing Squares, is making a series of Conjunctions to the
Descendant in the BBC’s chart, which is at 7 Aries.

Whether
they like it or not, the BBC is being forced to undergo a serious
transformation that will shake it to its roots (IC) and affect its relationship
to the public (Descendent) and its reputation (the MC) and bring in big changes
at senior management level (MC). Saturn in Scorpio has just entered the BBC
chart’s second House, challenging the corporation’s values and purse strings.
Saturn will oppose natal Mars in Taurus in the 8th from the end of 2012 through
2013. Mars in Taurus is not going to yield to change easily, but what is
certain is that questions will be asked about how the BBC is funded, how it
manages its resources, what its core values are and how it expresses them. The
corporation will be held ever more responsible in these areas.

Then, in
2015/6 the BBC will experience its Pluto half return when transiting Pluto
opposes its 10th House Pluto in Cancer. We shall see a very different ‘Auntie
Beeb’ by the time these transits are over.

Speaking at
a recent conference5 Lynn Bell described Saturn in Scorpio as taking
us to the place of nightmares, challenging the boundaries of our world.
Something is opened up, Pandora’s Box-like. This is certainly the case here.
Once it all comes out, it’s what you do with the toxic ‘stuff’ that counts. We can hope that out of the darkness comes
some light, healing and positive transformation.

This is
something that we need insist upon as the Savile scandal, the North Wales care
home abuse scandal and the BBC crisis all play themselves out. For Savile’s
victims, the first crucial step of the healing process has been taken. They
have spoken and they have been listened to. Now the authorities
dealing with this scandal need to do everything they can to ensure that the
victims receive help to accept and maybe even forgive what has been done to
them, if that is possible6. Not only that, but it should be made
easier for all of those who have been, or are being, abused by someone in power
or authority, to come forward and to be believed and taken seriously.

The culture
at the BBC and at all big corporations needs to change so that this can never
happen again. It’s about breaking down the poisoned
structures and building new, better structures in their place. This
would be a powerfully positive use of the mutual reception and Sextile energies
of Saturn in Scorpio and Pluto in Capricorn, as well as positive expresson of Uranus Square Pluto.

We
also need to nip the panicked witch hunt in the bud, to ensure that innocent
people aren’t smeared with the paedophile tag and to avoid more sacrificial head
rolling at the BBC and elsewhere. Saturn, Uranus and Pluto will not be satisfied until the REAL perpetrators
are held to account.

As noted at
the top of this article, Saturn in Scorpio signals cultural
shifts in attitudes to sexual behaviour, redefining the rules of what is and
what isn’t acceptable. When Karin Ward said in a recent interview with The
Daily Mail, “he was just like any other bloke in the mid-Seventies and
at the time I never even thought of it as anything other than normal behaviour.
He grabbed a handful of bum and went to grab a handful of boob...”7,
we realise how far we have come, because that sort of behaviour in any
workplace is totally unacceptable now8. That it has taken us so long
to acknowledge how prevalent this kind of behaviour was, the devastating effect
it can have, and allow some healing and recompense around that, makes us
realise just how far we still have to go.

1Two planets are in mutual reception when each are in the sign of
the other’s ruler. Planets in mutual reception tend to work together easily
(strong allies or partners in crime). When planets are in mutual reception they
tend to dominate the horoscope. Planets are in Sextile aspect when they fall
within 60 degrees (two signs) of each other. Sextile aspects enjoy easy
expression and are said to offer opportunity.

2Jimmy Savile was a TV and radio broadcaster from the 60’s and
70’s who became a household name. During the 80’s he became known for his
charity work and in the 90’s he received a Knighthood, one of the highest
honours in the land. Savile died in October 2011.

8I’m
just about old enough to remember the days when, if a woman objected to being
wolf-whistled or to having her bum pinched etc. she was told there was
something wrong with her, that is was only a bit of fun. It was widely accepted
that an ambitious women had to put up with this kind of thing if she wanted to
get anywhere in her career. At the same time, she would be vilified by other
women if it was perceived that she had ‘slept her way to the top’.

A note
about Jimmy Savile’s Birth Chart

I don’t have
a birth time, but his date of birth was 31st October 1926 in Leeds UK. At the
time of the ITV documentary, transiting Saturn at 29 Libra was approaching a conjunction
to his Venus at 2 Scorpio. Venus is conjunct his Sun at 7 Scorpio. At the same
time, transiting Saturn was in an exact opposition to Savile’s natal Chiron at
29 degrees Aries. The revelations of his abuse of young women are indeed
fitting for Saturn in Scorpio conjunct Venus and the transit to Chiron perhaps
suggests the healing that now needs to be done. I can’t find a birth date for
Karin Ward, but certainly she fits the wounded healer archetype.

6 comments:

Thank you. Since I posted it the BBC Trust Chair, Lord Patten, has said, a "thorough, radical, structural overhaul" of the BBC is necessary. Amazing how that statement chimes so perfectly with the BBC's transits from the Uranus Pluto squares

Thank you! for another wonderfully insightful article. You always seem to hit the nail bang on the head. Have you any idea how these energies might be expected to manifest in a personal chart? Pluto has been over my 4 Cap DC and is about to roll over my Saturn-POF conjunction (11 Cap) whilst trining himself. Uranus is squaring my Cancer Asc and Cap Mars, and my life remains as stagnant as a big stagnant thing covered in a thick layer of pond weed. I mean, Pluto + Saturn + Uranus... I suppose I should be glad thing's aren't happening :D - but I would have thought all this would mean *something* in a natal chart.

Hi Gilly, there's not space here to go into the specifics of your own chart (I wouldn't do that without the person sitting in front of me or at the other end of the phone).

However, it's worth you contemplating the general nature of the Uranus-Pluto transiting square, as this might give you some clues as to how it is, or might be, manifesting in your life.

Uranus-Pluto most generally brings change. Uranus change can be sudden, surprising and disruptive. Or it might be the recipient of the transit who initiates the change. There's certainly a restlessness associated with Uranus transits. Pluto change is deeper and slower. It's the 'no turning back' kind of change. Sometimes it's deep pschological/emotional/psychic change rather than outward, material change, but often it's both. Pluto offers empowerment and strength through the process of psychologically 'surviving' the changes that occur under its transits. It might not feel like it at the time, but it's nothing you can't handle. Put that together and you get a picture of what a Uranus-Pluto transit can be like if it manifests.

The stress felt under this transit often comes from the resistance to change (Pluto) and/or from trying so hard to change things that you can end up throwing away the good after the bad (Uranus).

To Saturn, it doesn't promise to be light or fun. It's a hard work transit and with Saturn you get out of it what you put into it. Taking a pragmatic, practical, level-headed approach will help. Fortunately for you, Saturn is strong in Capricorn.

Thank you Mandi(I'm sorry to be slow responding, I only just found your answer to me). I suppose, when I look back on the last few years I have changed a lot - as you say, it's more the slow, deep transformative, Plutonian type of change. As for Saturn - he's very strong in my chart and often seems luckier to me than Jupiter. Having said which, with Pluto hitting my Saturn next year, maybe I'll be forced to eat those words. :) I really the need a bit of good Uranian energy to stir up all this ponderous, never-changing life energy I seem to have been dealing with forever. A lottery win would do the trick.:D Thanks again!

About Me

I have been fascinated by astrology all my life and cast my first horoscope back in 1985. Latterly, I studied at The London School of Astrology for over three years and gained the school’s Certificate in 2005.
I am committed to self development - emotionally, spiritually and intellectually - and believe in doing my best to live my life true to myself and my life purpose, in service to others and in harmony with the cycles of the universe. These values are also the focus of my work with clients.
Sun Capricorn, Moon Aquarius, Gemini Rising